


In Search For Some Relief

by LovelyOnism



Category: Borderlands, Tales from the Boderlands
Genre: M/M, Vaughn is mentioned - Freeform, alternative universe, lots of kisses, this au is basically my excuse to make them kiss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-22
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-05-22 13:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6081510
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyOnism/pseuds/LovelyOnism
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prequel to Hungry For More, how Rhys landed the job and first trip to Pandora</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Search For Some Relief

**Author's Note:**

> Been meaning to write the little prequel. Don't know if I'll do a main sequel to the fic because frankly I don't really have any ideas for it. Well not a fully developed one at least. Sorry for the lame title too, I just have the hardest time naming these things.   
> Rhys is clearly not use to being around Jack as much as he is in the other fic, this is before he really gets comfortable and knows how to deal with him.   
> Quick rundown of the Givers and Feeders again:  
> Givers: People who are born with an excess of special energy which can only be properly taken by Feeders, they they can give small amounts to normal people. If they don't give this energy they get very sick. They have empath and healing abilities.  
> Feeders:People who are born with faster reflexes, extra strength, and stronger senses. They constantly use the special energy and need a Giver or else they also become very sick.

Rhys was ecstatic to work at Hyperion. Since he was in high school he knew that his destiny resided there. He made it his life mission to go there and not let anything get in his way, not even the fact that he was a Giver. Vaughn was being sent to Hyperion with him and he thought that everything would work out fine on the Giver end of things. After all, he had been able to get through the end of high school and most of college with his best friends help. Being a Giver was quite useful actually, he was usually able to influence people who would otherwise seriously annoy him. It was better to manipulate people then to physically beat them into submission. People were usually classified as Givers or Feeders during the age of 16 to 20, and after they were identified they ‘matured’ for about eight years with the energy or lack of energy depending on who you were only grew. Rhys had thought that he could deal with any amount of energy he might build up with himself but he was wrong.

Arriving at Hyperion he started as a lowly code monkey. Vaughn of course moved to accounting and he didn’t think much of it until he wasn’t able to spend as much time with him as he had done so before. And the buildup he felt was becoming worse every week. His friend could only take so much, he needed to find a Feeder. There were moments at bars he was able to find several willing Feeders but he needed to make an agreement with someone long term. 

He was having a particularly hard week, a promotion he deserved was being taken from him by Hugo Vasquez of all people. He hadn’t found a Feeder in over a week and now he needed to find a particular team who royally fucked up a project that he thought was easy. Making his way down the halls of Hyperion, people moved out of his way with the waves of anger that were rolling off of him. Turning a sharp corner he found them goofing off in their cubicles. 

“Hey!” he yelled at them. The group stopped talking and looked at him, they hadn’t fully grasped the situation at hand. “Did I, or did I not tell you that this project had to be done by last week, with coding so simple that I could give it to a high schooler who just started an introductory course?!” 

“We’re sorry sir but-“ began one of the useless workers before he was promptly cut off. 

“Sorry? No, I don’t want your half assed apology. I want that project to be done like it was supposed to be.” 

“Look sir,” said a particularly stupid worker, “you’re little project wasn’t going to work anyway and if you thought it was so simple you should have done it yourself. In the end if you really think about it, it’s your fault not ours.” 

Rhys’ cybernetic hand curled into a fist. The realization that they should actually be terrified finally started coming across to these idiots. He slammed his fist hard on a desk, causing it to splinter down the middle. They all flinched back. 

“You _worthless_ bunch of nitwits! You wouldn’t know how to write code for a blog even if you had the instructions right in front of your face because you have it so far up your ass!” 

“Um-“

“Don’t speak!” he shouted. If they could speak then clearly he hadn’t made his point. “If any of you so much as screw up one more little thing then I will make it my personal mission to-“ 

“Kill us?” squeaked out one of the cowering idiots. 

Rhys gave them a chilling smile as he came closer. 

“Kill you? No, I won’t kill you. But I’ll make it so that you might have a little accident when you are sent down to Pandora because the only job you’ll be able to have is sanitation on that bandit infested planet!” 

One of them still tried to talk and Rhys grabbed him by the throat. 

“Looks like we have a volunteer for the first one to be demoted! Didn’t I tell you not to speak,” hissed Rhys as his robotic hand began to tighten. 

Someone started clapping. Rhys quickly turned his head to the source, his eyes going wide at seeing Handsome Jack standing there. He approached them as he began to laugh too. Rhys stood up a little straighter but still kept his grip on the idiot. 

“Nice work cupcake. Look at their faces! Don’t know about your grip on this one though,” Handsome Jack said while motioning to the idiot in Rhys’ grasp. 

He raised an eyebrow, looking down at the gasping man who was beginning to black out from lack of oxygen. He dropped him and looked back at Handsome Jack, partially filled with some Hyperion instilled fear and curiosity. 

“What was wrong with my grip? There’s no point in using both my hands,’ Rhys said while flexing his robotic fingers. 

“Yeah I’m sure your hand has many uses,” he tilted his head as he took a good look at Rhys’ cybernetic enhancements. “An echo eye too! That must have been quite the surgery.” 

Jack began to lead him out of the room as they continued to talk. 

“It took awhile to recover, since I have it all connected,” he answered awkwardly. 

Rhys had never met Handsome Jack, he had only greatly admired him from afar perhaps a tad obsessively according to Vaughn. 

“What’s your name kiddo?” 

“It’s Rhys,” he answered quickly, worried that giving the head of Hyperion his name would somehow be a very bad thing. 

“Rhys? What kind of a… never mind that, what’s your position here at Hyperion?” 

He had a huge sense of foreboding. 

“I’m a middle manager in the propaganda department.” 

His eyes narrowed at the memory of being stuck as a middle manager. Damn Vazquez. 

“Woah there pumpkin, what’s put you in such a bad mood?” 

Rhys rubbed the back of neck. Before he could answer him, he felt a wave of being ill. Damn it, he needed some way to get rid of the excess built up energy. If he let it go on much longer he would probably collapse and that would be embarrassing. 

When he looked back up his face was inches away from Handsome Jack’s. 

“Oh, sorry…” he murmured. 

“You’re a Giver aren’t ya? I mean your little display back there would make most people think you’re a Feeder.” 

Rhys hated being stereotyped, just because he was a Giver didn’t mean he was just some complacent little nurturer. 

“What about it?” he said perhaps a little more aggressively than he should have. 

“There’s that fire again, thought it was a onetime thing. I don’t need a wilting flower.” 

He didn’t have time to think about what Handsome Jack meant, when he was suddenly being kissed. Jack’s mouth was demanding and Rhys began to feel the energy flow out of him. He began to chase that relief, really getting into the kiss as well trying to get rid of as much energy as possible. 

As Jack pulled away Rhys realized he had wrapped his hands in the older man’s coat to keep him close. He was a bit dazed but had a least some sense to let go. Jack smiled at him, making him even more flustered. 

“I’ll be seeing you later, Rhys,” Jack said as he walked away. 

Rhys could only stand and stare speechless, wondering if he had attracted some very bad potentially life ending attention. 

\--

He was summoned to Jack’s office a week later. The whole time from their last encounter he had run through the events over and over again. It all seemed so surreal. He had talked Vaughn’s ear off with his worry over it though. His friend said that he should be happy that he had gotten out of the situation alive and with an added bonus of being fed upon. 

Entering into the holy ground of Jack’s Office, he tried his best to remain calm and not give off waves of anxiety and fear that he very much felt. Jack looked up from his work giving a smirk as he got up from his desk. 

“Rhys, today’s your lucky day!” Jack exclaimed. 

“It is?” he asked warily. 

Jack slapped his hand on Rhys’ back, making him give a small oomph at the action. 

“See recently I’ve been without a PA. I didn’t think I really needed one but there has been some real incompetent people just making everything so much harder than it needs to be, you know all about that. So I’m promoting you from middle manager to my very own PA!” 

“What?” 

Jack frowned at Rhys’ lack of enthusiasm. 

“What’s the matter cupcake? Didn’t you hear a word I just said?” 

Rhys nodded his head very quickly. 

“Sorry sir, I’m just a little shocked.” 

“I get it, I know that I am a very intimidating guy that all you guys get yourselves wet over. But believe it Rhysie.” 

This might be the stupidest thing he would ever ask but his curiosity got the better of him. 

“Why me?” he blurted out. 

“Still lost in your awe and wonder of me? Well honestly pumpkin, I thought it was hilarious how you just really gave it to those code monkeys. You even started to strangle that one guy! You’re a man that I can actually deal with, we’re not so different I think. Except for the fact that you are a Giver, which is actually another reason I chose you. I think it will be pretty useful to have a close at hand source.” 

He understood, he was chosen because of he strangled a guy and was a quick and easy source to be fed upon. Okay the feeding thing he didn’t mind so much. The possibility that his life might be shortened by being forced in this position was something he was deeply worried about. 

While Rhys was lost in thought, Jack began moving him to his desk crowding him in. Rhys looked up startled as he was pressed into the desk. His boss stared intently at him, and he suddenly felt like a rabbit in front of a wolf. 

“Sir?” 

“Call me Jack, cupcake. We’re going to be working more intimately now.” 

He couldn’t help the blush that spread across his cheeks. Jack began kissing him again, an act Rhys really couldn’t see himself getting use to anytime soon. When the kiss broke, he had to take a moment to not just crumble over the surrealism of the situation. 

“Alright, you gotta get to work!” Jack said with a smile as he effortlessly went back to his chair as if he did not kiss Rhys senseless.” 

Rhys turned to face him as he was handed some paper work. Jack also explained that he had upgraded Rhys’ security access and now needed to sort through Jack’s schedule and block all unnecessary people from seeing him because he didn’t want to talk to them. Also there was the fact that he wanted to go down to Pandora by the end of the month and nothing was going to stop that from happening so all projects that needed him had to be dealt with by that point or else they would have to wait for an undetermined amount of time. 

So the honeymoon phase was over and short lived for all of one kiss. 

He had wanted to move up the corporate ladder and now he had jumped to suddenly being Jack’s PA. Which was so much more work than he had ever expected. Rhys didn’t know how long since he had fired or spaced the last PA but his schedule was in shambles. 

\--

The first thing Rhys had to get use to was being the gate keeper to Jack’s time. It was easily the most enjoyable part of his job. All those managers that he hated and sucked up to for so long now were at his mercy. It was amazing. 

The second thing was that his long time idol/hero, was someone who had minimum impulse control. He had heard the rumors, and had even known some people who met their unlucky end at Hyperion. Now he dealt with Handsome Jack’s full frontal temperamental nature. He had to find better ways to direct Jack’s anger but that was an added bonus of being a Giver, making him capable of calming Jack down when he knew that if they murdered a whole department then they would be set back for months. 

The third thing he still had not gotten use to but was trying, was the feeding sessions. His healthily instilled fear from working at Hyperion for awhile made him anxious to initiate anything. Rhys, would wait for Jack to come to him even if he needed to get rid some of the built up energy. Things came to a head when Jack went to Pandora. 

Rhys was left behind, much to his happiness. Pandora was absolutely the worst and he had no desire to ever go down to the bandit infested planet. The only good thing to ever come out of it was eridium. He spent the first week fencing calls and trying to work out future possible schedules. People were slowly starting to understand that he was really there to stay and if they needed to get on his good side or else. 

He also slowly began to feel ill, it had already been five days without any kisses between them before Jack had left to Pandora. Now he was becoming more sluggish and he needed to find a Feeder but even though Jack had never said that they were exclusive he still had a pretty good idea that Jack would not like it.   
So while he was trying to distract himself by sending Vaughn messages he got a direct call from Jack. 

“Jack?” he answered. 

“You need to get down here ASAP. You got an hour to get any of your shit together before you get on a ride to my camp. Understand?” 

Rhys didn’t even get a chance to reply before he heard some gunfire and Jack angrily yell at what he assumed were bandits. He quickly gathered some of his clothes from his apartment and ran to the shuttles. Some guards were accompanying him and asked him what weapon he wanted on his person. He knew they expected for him to choose some Hyperion weapon but the truth was that he had never fired a gun in his life. 

He wasn’t defenseless though, he had taken fencing in college and that’s why he requested a stun baton. He did his best to ignore their snickering. The ride was not pleasant and after landing in Opportunity, he was swiftly escorted to some far off location that Jack went to in search of a vault or just to eradicate some bandit camps. He wasn’t completely sure if there was a difference. 

Getting out of the fortified vehicle he barely had enough time to get a look around at the dismal surroundings before he was attacked by Jack.   
Jack pressed him close, keeping him close by placing his hand at the back of Rhys’ neck. Jack became more demanding with every passing second. Their mouths open and plaint against each other. Rhys could safely say that he had never been kissed so senselessly before. He really felt like he was being devoured, the energy just being pulled out of him. Jack must have really been low on energy with how hard he was going at it. Then a thought crossed his mind, he had been left for quite some time without Jack and he was going to make sure that he got rid as much as energy as he could. He wrapped his own hand on the back of Jack’s neck, his grip tight as he pushed forward even more. There was no space between them. 

He felt Jack move his hands down his body until he smoothly moved Rhys to lie down on the ground. He could feel Jack’s own arousal press into him and the friction was wonderful. His hands began to make their way under Jack’s shirt to touch his skin when they were interrupted.   
A loader bot came up to them, undoubtedly sent because any other sane person would know that they would get shot in the face. It came to tell them that it looked like some bandits had come to try to save the camp. 

The haze that had clouded his mind began to lift and he realized that they had gained an audience, effectively killing the mood. He was embarrassed for sure and there was no way he was going to continue their session while lying on the desert Pandoran ground. Jack got off him and helped him up. 

“Welcome to Pandora, kiddo,” Jack said. 

“It’s been interesting so far,” Rhys admitted. 

“I made the mistake of not bringing you along before, not thinking that I would definitely need my Giver. You were missing me weren’t you, cupcake?” 

Rhys made it look like he was thinking it over, making Jack pout before he kissed him. 

“Just a little,” he teased. 

Jack laughed, he liked it better when Rhys wasn’t acting all weak in front of him. 

“I gotta deal with these bandits who just insist on destroying this planet. What gun did you bring?” 

“I didn’t bring a gun.” 

“What?” 

He gave a deep sigh. 

“I brought a stun baton. I’ve never used a gun before.” 

Jack made a very indignant guffaw. 

“You work at Hyperion!” 

“That doesn’t automatically mean that I use guns.” 

Jack made a face clearly meaning that he disagreed. 

“So what? You’re defenseless? Your echo eye can only get you so far.” 

Rhys raised his eyebrow. Was that a challenge? He looked to the Loader Bot next to him and activated his echo eye. He made quick work of hacking into its systems, forcing it to go back into it’s locked down mode. 

“I don’t think being able to control Loader Bots makes me defenseless.” 

“Alright I am willing to admit that it is more useful than I initially gave you credit for but still won’t help you when you’re stranded by yourself in the middle of the desert surrounded by bandits.” 

He took out the stun baton. 

“That’s why I have this.” 

Jack began to laugh, perhaps harder than he should have. 

“I’m going to teach you how to use a gun. If my PA can’t handle himself with one then that’s just embarrassing for me. What will people think?”

Rhys frowned but knew better than to say no. A Hyperion soldier went to them saying that the bandits were just a couple miles out. Jack took just one more kiss from Rhys before ordering him to stay behind while he dealt with the undesirables. 

As Rhys saw Jack walk away he couldn’t help but feel a flare of attraction as he thought Jack looked pretty great with his murderous intention strut. He knew he was in deep trouble and if he survived this trip to Pandora there would just be many more like this one. That is if he survived his time with Jack. 

He had no idea what kind of future was in store for them.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, leave some kudos or a comment if you feel so inclined.


End file.
